HILLSBOROUGH, NH – The body of a woman who died more than 180 years ago was stolen from the remote Bible Hill Cemetery sometime around Halloween, police said yesterday. The gravesite of Sarah Symonds, who died in June 1821 at the age of either 30 or 32, was excavated with a rectangular hole dug 5.5 feet deep, police said. Mounds of dirt from the hole were left on either side of the hole, and the headstone was intact.

Now I know what to get for holiday gifts for those of my friends that are "crime TV" addicts. This very enjoyable and instructive new book by Dr. Ramsland could also be titled Great Moments in Forensic Science. While everyone who watches the popular forensics shows on TV knows how important DNA, luminol, fiber evidence and other modern-day forensic tools are to solving crime, most people have no idea how these techniques slowly, and often contentiously, evolved into their present-day acceptance in the courtroom. Nor do people have any appreciation of how the early forensic pioneers and their supporters risked their reputations and careers developing, testing and defending the new scientific methods.